End political influence on DEP regulators

Heads are spinning as the political fallout and finger pointing continue in the collapse of the Encap luxury condo and resort golf course project. The multi-billion dollar project was slated to be built on top of highly toxic landfills in the Meadowlands. Under the influence of politically connected lobbyists, State officials approved over $300 million in taxpayer subsidies to the failed project. It looks like the taxpayers are left holding a rather large bag and millions of taxpayer dollars have vanished.

Worse, we now learn that the DEP Commissioner allowed lobbyists for the developer to virtually write DEP permits that violated regulatory standards designed to protect public health and the environment. The landfills remain even bigger environmental hazards due to the millions of cubic yards of toxic fill material imported to the site.

Superb journalism at the Bergen Record and captured the root cause of the debacle:

"Political appointees running the state's environmental watchdog agency routinely overruled top staffers and approved stripped-down safeguards for the EnCap Golf project in the Meadowlands, a Record investigation shows.

State documents reveal that the staff scientists and leading specialists inside the Department of Environmental Protection were often surprised and frustrated to learn that their bosses had already green-lighted the developer's proposals, sometimes in separate meetings with the developer's attorneys.

Those high-level approvals often flew against longtime policies and standards that DEP staffers had spent their careers upholding. The staffers, who all declined to be named because they feared workplace reprisals, said interference from politically connected developers is a fact of life in their jobs."

This key aspect of the story - the corruption caused by political access and undue influence over career DEP environmental professionals - is being lost as the focus is diverted to the extraordinary self-serving spin and finger-pointing by responsible state officials.

Former DEP Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell has blamed his bosses in the McGreevey and Codey Administrations.

Current DEP chief Lisa Jackson responded by saying that the career professionals should be free from political interference. She invited staffers should come forward if there is a problem like the EnCap situation.

"I come from the staff myself, I came from the technical side," Jackson said. "I understand how frustrating it can be to work under political appointees who come in and often set new policies."

While we agree with DEP Commissioner Jackson, we challenge her to back up that rhetoric with real reforms..

The problem of political influence at DEP is systemic and warrants a systemic remedy. However, what goes on inside DEP on a daily basis has been largely ignored in the corruption, ethics, and pay-to-play reform debates. Furthermore, New Jersey's whistleblower protection laws are weak and riddled with loopholes. In a national ranking, New Jersey's law scored only 55 out of 100 points. (see PEER analysis of New Jersey's whistleblower law)

To begin this reform process, last April, PEER filed an Open Public Records request seeking public records of meetings between DEP officials and lobbyists and representative of regulated industries.

That OPRA request was denied by DEP. DEP claimed that disclosure of these records would jeopardize the privacy of the lobbyists involved.

In response to the OPRA denial, PEER filed a petition for rulemaking to force DEP disclosure of meetings with industry lobbyist. The petition was based on Election Law Enforcement Commission lobbying regulations, which require lobbyists to disclosure all communications with state agencies that seek to "influence government processes". Transparency in government improves decisions and promotes accountability - as the saying goes "Sunshine is the best disinfectant."

That petition was also denied by DEP Commissioner Jackson, on the same day it was published for public comment.

As this story explodes into a full-scale debacle and the public learns just how dirty the Encap deal was, we again urge DEP Commissioner Jackson and Governor Corzine to reconsider the transparency, accountability, and whistleblower protection reforms we have proposed.

There is no place for pay to play political influence at DEP.

The governor and Commissioner Jackson must act to bolster the credibility and restore public confidence in DEP.